Clear craze
The clear craze was a marketing fashion from the late 1980s to early 2000s, often equating transparency with purity. Inspired by Ivory's "99 and 44/100 percent pure" campaign for bath soap and by low-calorie or "light" beverages, sodas were redesigned in the 1980s and 1990s as being free of artificial dyes. This trend saw use in hygiene products, focusing on dye-free gels; many electronic products of the time also advertised translucent variants.
History
Since the introduction of Plexiglas in the late 1930s, devices have been made with clear shells to expose the electromechanical components inside. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, a 139 Pontiac Deluxe Six engine with a clear Plexiglas body was put on display. Peaking in the 1960s and 1970s, transparent-shelled devices fell out of fashion until the clear craze in the late 1980s. Following the breakup of the Bell System in the mid 1980s, a surge of manufacturers began creating phones, some of them transparent.
In the 1970s, transparent-shelled devices were introduced into prisons, especially with CRT televisions, to prevent hiding contraband.
A trend of "light" beer with fewer calories started in the 1960s. At the time, color was identified in the marketing industry as a "tool for visual persuasion" toward a product's purity and health consciousness. Ivory soap was adapted from its classic milky solution and its slogan of "99 and 44/100 percent pure".
The clear cola market was entered by Crystal Pepsi on April 13, 1992 exalting its lack of preservatives and caffeine, although Pepsi already had no preservatives and had a caffeine-free version. Coca-Cola soon responded with Tab Clear. Clearly Canadian sparkling water followed.
Through the 1990s, clear product launches included mouthwash (such as alcohol-free ClearChoice), mascara, and computers such as Apple's iMac G3.
In September 1993, Amoco joined the clear craze by renaming its plain high-octane gasoline to Crystal Clear Amoco Ultimate; this rebranding had previously been launched 77 years prior in 1915 without particular success.
History
Since the introduction of Plexiglas in the late 1930s, devices have been made with clear shells to expose the electromechanical components inside. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, a 139 Pontiac Deluxe Six engine with a clear Plexiglas body was put on display. Peaking in the 1960s and 1970s, transparent-shelled devices fell out of fashion until the clear craze in the late 1980s. Following the breakup of the Bell System in the mid 1980s, a surge of manufacturers began creating phones, some of them transparent.
In the 1970s, transparent-shelled devices were introduced into prisons, especially with CRT televisions, to prevent hiding contraband.
A trend of "light" beer with fewer calories started in the 1960s. At the time, color was identified in the marketing industry as a "tool for visual persuasion" toward a product's purity and health consciousness. Ivory soap was adapted from its classic milky solution and its slogan of "99 and 44/100 percent pure".
The clear cola market was entered by Crystal Pepsi on April 13, 1992 exalting its lack of preservatives and caffeine, although Pepsi already had no preservatives and had a caffeine-free version. Coca-Cola soon responded with Tab Clear. Clearly Canadian sparkling water followed.
Through the 1990s, clear product launches included mouthwash (such as alcohol-free ClearChoice), mascara, and computers such as Apple's iMac G3.
In September 1993, Amoco joined the clear craze by renaming its plain high-octane gasoline to Crystal Clear Amoco Ultimate; this rebranding had previously been launched 77 years prior in 1915 without particular success.
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